MUSIC NEWS

"Ch-Check It Out!" Beastie Boys' New Single Released on iTunes; Album to Drop in Summer

The Beasties Boys have finally given fans a taste of what the rap trio's long awaited new album will sound like when it released the new CD's first single on Apple's iTunes music download Web site last Thursday.

The release coincided with the song's debut as part of the soundtrack to Thursday night's episode of the popular weekly Fox Television series "The O.C."

An audio clip and the full-length music video of the single, which is called "Ch-Check It Out," is available for free streaming on the Beastie Boys newly re-designed official Web site (www.beastieboys.com).

The album, titled "To the 5 Boroughs," will be released June 15 on Capitol Records and has been described, as the title suggests, as a tribute to the Beastie Boys' hometown, New York City. The new disc will be the first Beastie Boys album not released on the hip-hop group's Grand Royal label, which shut its doors in 2001 due to mounting financial difficulties.

We know what some of you are thinking: "It's about time! SIX YEARS! "

That's how long it's been since "Hello Nasty," the last full-length original Beastie Boys' CD, was released. The Massive had been wondering aloud for some time now what was going on with the Beastie Boys.

A few months ago, we looked up the rap trio's website and got only a placeholder site with little info or news. And last year we saw MCA (Adam Yauch) with backpack and skateboard in tow at the Tower Video store at Lafayette St. and 4th St. in NoHo, but resisted the temptation to ask him about when the next Beastie Boys album would drop.

Well, now we know.

The single "Ch-Check It Out" is full of the Beastie Boys trademark tongue-in-cheek rhymes and old-school hip hop bombast, with a big, rapid breakbeat. (We've heard that Mix Master Mike, who debuted with the Beasties on "Hello Nasty," is back and has cut up the beats for "To the 5 Boroughs.") The jam sounds great. The opening rhymes to "Ch-Check It Out" goofily play on a series of television show references starting with Star Trek...

All you Trekkies and TV addicts,
don't mean to dis don't mean to bring static.

Then checking the the now-obscure Wild Kingdom...

Like Mutual of Omaha,
got the ill boat you've never seen before.
Gliding in the glades, and like Lorne Greene
you know I get paid (Alpo, Bonanza, Battlestar Galactica ...)

On the Beastie Boys' Web site are the full lyrics to "Ch-Check It Out," the transcription of which includes "editor's notes" and footnotes.

The video for the single (see video still below) was mostly shot in New York City's Tribeca neigborhood not far from the Beastie Boys' recording studios in lower Manhattan.

In the clip, MCA, Mike D. (Michael Diamond) and Adrock (Adam Horovitz) appear on a deserted, graffiti-scrawled downtown street dressed as crew members of the U.S.S. Enterprise, wearing the well-known Star Trek uniform. "Appear," however, is not quite the right word--they are fittingly "beamed down" (by Scottie, naturally) in true Star Trek style.

What follows is an assemblage of goofy, campy and satirical piss-takes in typical Beastie Boys' style of not only Star Trek, but several other television shows from the 70's, including Barney Miller (or is it Fish?) and Wild Kingdom. The Beasties reference the iconic nature program by racing through the Florida Everglades on a fan-powered "glade" boat.

In other scenes the trio play it straight mugging down the street and rapping into the camera three-abreast while each wearing oversized headphones. Later, they get attacked on the New York streets by an elderly woman. The video was directed by Nathanial Hornblower, which is a pseudonym for Yauch.

Whether the Beastie Boys will tour this summer or later this year has yet to be officially announced, though we have it from sources in Japan that the Beasties will perform at both days and venues of the 2004 Summer Sonic music festival in Tokyo and Osaka, August 7 and 8, respectively.

The Beastie Boys will also make a "special guest" appearance at the WPLY Y100 FEZTIVAL June 18 at the Tweeter Center in Camden, New Jersey, along with The Strokes, The Darkness, Cypress Hill, Hoobastank, New Found Glory, Story of the Year, and Burning Brides. (Tickets go on sale Friday, May 7 at 4 p.m. through Ticketmaster.)

According to Beastie Boys' official website, the tracklisting for "To the 5 Boroughs" is as follows:

"Ch-Check It Out"

"Right Right Now Now"

"The Hard Way"

"Time To Build"

"Rhyme The Rhyme Well"

"Triple Trouble"

"Hey F*** You"

"Oh Word?"

"That It's That All"

"All Life Styles"

"Shazam!"

"An Open Letter To NYC"

"Crawl Space"

"The Brouhaha"

"We Got The"

--Rob "Check Your Head" Samra

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